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Advanced Math / Nonlinear functions Difficulty: Hard

An auditorium has seats for 1,800 people. Tickets to attend a show at the auditorium currently cost $4.00 . For each $1.00 increase to the ticket price, 100 fewer tickets will be sold. This situation can be modeled by the equation y = - 100 x 2 + 1,400 x + 7,200 , where x represents the increase in ticket price, in dollars, and y represents the revenue, in dollars, from ticket sales. If this equation is graphed in the xy-plane, at what value of x is the maximum of the graph?

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Explanation

Choice B is correct. It’s given that the situation can be modeled by the equation y=-100x2+1,400x+7,200, where x represents the increase in ticket price, in dollars, and y represents the revenue, in dollars, from ticket sales. Since the coefficient of the x2 term is negative, the graph of this equation in the xy-plane opens downward and reaches its maximum value at its vertex. If a quadratic equation in the form y=ax2+bx+c, where a, b, and c are constants, is graphed in the xy-plane, the x-coordinate of the vertex is equal to -b2a. For the equation y=-100x2+1,400x+7,200, a=-100, b=1,400, and c=7,200. It follows that the x-coordinate of the vertex is -1,4002(-100), or 7. Therefore, if the given equation is graphed in the xy-plane, the maximum of the graph occurs at an x-value of 7.

Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.